KQOQ
KQOQ is the MyNetworkTV affiliate that serves the Arlen, TX area. It broadcasts on channel 43. The station is owned by RKO Holdings. Its studios are located in Milker Boulevard on the city's northeast side. Syndicated programming on KQOQ includes: Dish Nation, Face the Truth Dateline, and Jerry Springer among others. History As an independent station Channel 43 signed on the air on December 13, 1979 as independent station KTAT-TV, the station was originally owned by the General Media Corporation. It was Arlen's fourth independent television station. This station's programming format featured cartoons, classic sitcoms, westerns, dramas, religious programs and some older movies. The station originally operated from studios located at 1440 Highland 13th Street, south of Arlen's Bikero section. KTAT was purchased by Seraphim Media in 1984. In 1987, Pappas Telecasting Companies proposed a deal to buy KTAT, and acquire the programming inventories of KTAT and Fox affiliate KAFX (channel 5) and migrate their syndicated programs to KAFX. The proposal called for channel 43 to run programming from the Home Shopping Network 15 to 18 hours each day, religious programs six hours a day, and some children's programming and barter entertainment shows. Heritage Broadcasting would sell KKJG to the Texas Educational Television Authority, which would convert it into a PBS member station to serve as a companion to the statewide network of the same name. This deal eventually fell apart and the potential purchase by Pappas was canceled in 1988. Although the Pappas proposal never came to pass, KTAT ended up being put up for sale that year, and the station was purchased by Maddox Broadcasting in 1989. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, KTAT adopted a very sophisticated on-air look for a mid-size market independent station, using CGI graphics of near network-quality. On February 9, 1989, KTAT licensee Texas Broadcasting, Inc., controlled by the family of stock speculator Ivan F. Boesky (who was sentenced to a three-year prison term in December 1987 for his involvement in an insider trading scandal), filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That May, KTAT co-founder and then-general manager Ted Baze made an attempt to gain full ownership of Arlen Broadcasting. In 1991, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas approved a reorganization plan in which KTAT's licensee Arlen Broadcasting, Inc. would pay most of its creditors in full with interest within 21 months. In 1993, KTAT was acquired by Superior Broadcasting. The station also aired programming from the Prime Time Entertainment Network syndication service from 1993 to 1995. Transitioning to network affiliation On January 11, 1995, the station became a network affiliate for the first time when it became a charter affiliate of The WB Television Network. Outside of The WB primetime programming and, starting on September 9, 1995, children's programming under the "Kids' WB" banner (airing on Saturdays and weekdays), the station otherwise continued with a general entertainment programming format and continued to run films in primetime as The WB initially broadcast only on Wednesday evenings at launch, but in September 1995, expanded to Sunday evenings; it also retained the "TV-43" branding that the station used as an independent, until September 6, 1995, when it switched to the "WB43" moniker. KTAT was purchased by current owner RKO Holdings in 1996. In 1998, RKO Holdings began managing KTAT under a local marketing agreement with that station's then-owner Sullivan Broadcasting; this lasted until late 2003. KTAT subsequently vacated its 1440 Highland 13th Street studios and relocated its operations south-southwest to a new studio facility at 1353 Milker Boulevard. In September 2002, KTAT discontinued the "WB43" branding, and became known as "Arlen's WB", due in part to the fact that many central Arlen residents view KTAT on cable television (available to most area cable providers on channel 11). In March 2004, the station changed its call letters to the current KQOQ. Affiliation with MyNetwork TV On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the creation of jointly-owned The CW Television Network, which would combine programming from both The WB and UPN. Nearly one month later on February 22, News Corporation announced a new competing network, MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by the company's Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television units. KQOQ was erroneously mentioned as the Arlen area charter affiliate of The CW in the network's initial station list. On May 2, The CW signed an agreement with RKO Holdings to make KWGM the network's Arlen affiliate. For months, it was unclear whether KQOQ would become an independent station once again or join MyNetworkTV. On August 22, just two weeks before the network aired its first program, MyNetworkTV announced KQOQ as its Arlen affiliate beginning on September 18, 2006, with the affiliation confirmed via an email sent by KQOQ station management. Upon the MyNetworkTV announcement, a promotional video seen on New York City flagship WWOR-TV noted that its affiliates would use the "My (channel number)" scheme in their on-air branding. KQOQ decided to use the "My 43" branding. This was accompanied by a marketing campaign focusing on the station's history. The station now airs sitcoms and talk shows during the late morning and afternoon hours, off-network sitcoms evenings and late nights and drama series and movies on weekends, along with some regional college sporting events. KQOQ also airs children's programming (salvaged from The WB affiliation to the MyNetworkTV affiliation in 2006). The branding for kids programs changed from "Kids' WB" to "The CW4Kids" in 2008. In 2010, the children's programming block's name became "Toonzai" in 2010. On August 25, 2012, "Toonzai" became "Vortexx" and has continued to use that name ever since. Logos KQOQ logo 1979.png|KTAT Logo (1979) KTAT logo real version 1986.png|KTAT Logo (1986-1992) KTAT logo new version 1992.png|KTAT Logo (1992-1995) KTAT logo 1995.png|KTAT's Logo (1995-September 2002) Arlen's WB logo 2002.png|KTAT/KQOQ's Logo (September, 2002 - 2006) KQOQ Logo.png|KQOQ's Current Logo Category:Channel 43 Category:MyNetworkTV affiliated stations Category:Arlen Category:Texas Category:Former WB network affiliates Category:Television channels and stations established in 1979 Category:Former independent stations Category:Former WB affiliates Category:Former PTEN affiliates